World News: A week is an eternity

Monday, October 1

Actor Jim Carrey sketched Sen. Lindsey Graham.

For Kavanaugh, Ford and America, a week of waiting is an eternity

We're looking back — to last week's developments on Brett Kavanaugh — and forward, to the end of the week and straight on to Thanksgiving.

On Monday, we're still talking about Brett Kavanaugh and the expanded investigation into his background, how Trump replaced NAFTA with another trade agreement that doesn't sound quite as phonetic, and why we're already thinking about Thanksgiving.

Welcome to The Short List. I'm editor Mary Nahorniak, bringing you the day's top news from USA TODAY.

But first, "Game of Thrones" fans, a little fire and ice for you while you're waiting (aaages!) for the final season: White Walker Scotch whisky. (Serve on the rocks.)

Here are the headlines.

Kavanaugh is still the topic du jour

Quick update on the weekend's developments: The expanded, weeklong FBI investigation into the Supreme Court nominee is in progress. President Donald Trump first said it should be limited in scope, then reversed and said the FBI should interview anybody it wants. There was plenty of discussion over Kavanaugh's drinking habits. Also, prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who questioned Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford on behalf of the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Ford's case is weak and "incredibly difficult to prove."

Here are a few pertinent opinion pieces:

•	This from Ana María Archila, one of the women who confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator on Friday, in a tense (and televised) moment. Of her sexual assault, she wrote: "I had not planned to share my story that day. ... But Christine Blasey Ford told her story to protect our country and, in solidarity with her and as a way to thank her, I decided to tell mine."
•	These are the three big questions left hanging after Ford's testimony.
•	And one more that we're mulling: Is it time for the news media to get a grip?

A tweeted picture is worth a thousand words: Actor Jim Carrey weighed in with a sketch of Lindsey Graham.

Don't let the alphabet soup slow you down here

NAFTA: The United States, Canada and Mexico agreed to a new trilateral trade deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, after more than a year of discussion. Key question: Does the new name have a good acronym? It'll be called the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA. Rolls right off the tongue.

VA: Cancellations of more than 250,000 radiology orders at Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country since 2016 have raised questions about whether — in a rush to clear out outdated and duplicative diagnostic orders — some facilities failed to follow correct procedures. At issue: a concern over whether some medically necessary orders for CT scans and other imaging tests were cancelled improperly.

ATF: It's been a year since the Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 800. New emails offer an inside look at the pressure the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms faced to ban "bump stocks" and why they still continue to be available in much of the country.

It's not not-time to think about Thanksgiving sales

It's only Oct. 1 (rabbit, rabbit), but retailers are already making their decisions about Thanksgiving. There's been plenty of backlash in recent years for stores that open on Thanksgiving Day, and at least 60 retailers — more than ever by this date — have said they'll stay closed on the holiday. If you support that, then you can support them, just not on Nov. 22.